As the the novel coronavirus situation changes daily, it’s becoming even more difficult to think about projections. Following CDC guidelines, it looks impossible right now for baseball to come back before June.

This is an interesting scenario for some players, including Yoenis Céspedes. The outfielder was supposed to debut in spring training sometime around when baseball games were suspended. Having more time off means he should have more time to get healthy.

Céspedes had quite the year last year. He was recovering from massive heal surgery, a procedure that was probably delayed because Mets ownership wanted him to play through pain. While recovering, he broke his ankle after an encounter with a wild boar on his ranch, a story that some how only broke during the off-season. In complete, peak, Mets-Universe, being attacked by a boar doesn’t even begin to crack the most important and wildest stories of the Mets off-season.

It’s not clear what he will be able to do once he’s fully back. What is clear is that he has been working hard at coming back and wants to be back.

First off projection wise, everyone except ESPN sees Céspedes playing for about half a season, with a significant slugging percentage and good OPS, especially for missing the last year and a half of baseball. I can’t shake the memory of 2015 Céspedes, putting the Mets on his back. If he has a positive DRC+ this season like BP is suggesting, he could be a catalyst on this team. As always with projection articles for 2020, it’s important to focus on the slash lines. We have no idea how many games are actually going to be played.

This team is so much fun when he plays. This lineup is so much more dangerous when he plays. The Mets still have a ton of corner outfielders, and hopefully Luis Rojas can make it work. If Céspedes is healthy, then we could be in for a fun year.

(Citations: BP projections come from the Baseball Prospectus Annual, a must read for all baseball fans and can be purchased here. ESPN comes from their fantasy baseball projections and can be found here. Both ZiPS and Steamer are found on FanGraphs. ZiPS can be found here, Steamer can be found here. BR comes from the Baseball Reference for this specific player and is linked earlier in the article).